Thom Tillis endorses Bill Graham for next North Carolina governor

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) dealt a blow to North Carolina GOP gubernatorial front-runner Mark Robinson this week by endorsing Robinson’s top challenger Bill Graham, an affluent businessman.

Graham and Robinson, who are seeking the Republican nomination for North Carolina governor, are hoping to replace Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) next year. Cooper cannot seek reelection because he has reached the state’s term limit.

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“I intend to do everything I can to help him get the nomination,” Tillis told the National Review of Graham. “It’s not a personality thing to me or personal thing. I’m looking at two resumes and there’s a stark contrast in capabilities.”

Tillis said his endorsement of Graham came down to “experience” rather than politics and personality. However, some Republicans have expressed concerns that if Robinson is the GOP nominee, he would lose the general election because of controversial statements he has made in the past about gay people and the film Black Panther.

“Mark Robinson’s a good enough guy. I don’t know him that well,” Tillis said. “But he has virtually no legislative experience, very little business experience. We’re a very, very important state and we have to have people with that kind of experience, I think, to continue this track record that we’ve had since Republicans took control of North Carolina when I became speaker. And so for those reasons, I’ve decided to support Bill.”

Even with Tillis’s support, Graham faces an uphill battle to become the GOP nominee. Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, has received endorsements from major players in North Carolina politics, including the state’s Senate president pro tempore Phil Berger. Robinson also secured the support of former President Donald Trump and is expected to campaign alongside Trump next week.

“Mark Robinson is someone who comes across as an authentic person to working-class voters,” Jonathan Felts, an adviser to the pro-Robinson super PAC Patriots First, said. “These are the people that decide Republican primaries.”

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The winner of the Republican primary next March will face either North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein or former state Supreme Court justice Mike Morgan in the next general election.

Democrats typically hold the position in the governor’s mansion, but Trump won the state in 2016 and 2020.